Anonymous Takes Down Spanish Parliament Website

Hacktivist group Anonymous have taken down the Spanish parliament website in support of a mass protest in Madrid, as activists demonstrate against economic hardships and record-high unemployment – which has now passed the 6.2-million mark.

The protesters have also called for the “siege and liberation” of the Spanish parliament, and 1,400 riot police were deployed ahead of the demo.

Thousands of protesters are expected to rally in Spain and Portugal in a show against government austerity measures.

On Thursday, unemployment in Spain was confirmed to have reached a record high of 27.2 percent, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics.

Anti-government protesters organized to ‘Surround Congress,’ in Madrid just as the latest round of anticipated cuts and austerity measures come into force.

In support of the protests, Anonymous have launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the parliament website, and will continue the attack, as the website is still working intermittently .

So far police have detained 15 people in Madrid, claiming that one group were preparing to use flares and firebomb, while claiming to apprehend another group who had sticks and chains. The police have been stopping people on the street also mistook a birthday celebration for a protest.